Steve Austin criticizes new era wrestlers

[robinkom]

This reminds me of the story when Steve Corino applied for a spot on the Creative Team a few year ago and I'm mostly paraphrasing here.

He was basically dressed down by one of their self-important writers when on his mock booking of a card, he simply listed a Batista promo as "Batista promo" without actually writing out the dialog like they do for nearly everyone on TV. As he is from the old-school, his logic is you just cut your own promo based on what you're told to talk about, not "Here's your lines, memorize them, I don't care if your vocabulary isn't as articulate as mine, musclehead."

But this is part of the problem with the WWE, they're ashamed to be professional wrestling so they bullshit themselves into thinking they're "Sports Entertainment" and "real" TV. Like they're some Action Adventure episodic Drama and they're all gonna win Emmy's for their incredibly acting and straight-to-video B movies.

Vince McMahon would rather spend several million dollars on getting a terrible PG-13 film shot starring one of his non-actor "Sports Entertainers" than open his eyes and invest in the core product that made him his money and all the squandered wrestling talent on the pay role that could do a lot in the long run to boost those oh so important ratings that he loses his shit over.

They don't know how to get an angle over without writing "brilliantly scripted" soap opera vignettes because they don't train the young talent how to tell the story while wrestling IN THE RING or cut promos on their own. They don't teach them psychology and how to work a crowd anymore.

They've instead gotten their core casual audience trained like monkeys to pop at precise moments with zero thought or emotional investment, they just know they have to do it. The fans in the arena might as well be behind a glass wall or not even there for all the real attention they get.

[Moneyinc]

Originally Posted by Da Solo

To be fair, you really can't blame the talent. The talent is good. Really good, actually. Ziggler is the best seller anyone's seen since HBK and Attitude Era Rock. Kofi Kingston is more athletic than anyone in the Attitude Era, period. Punk, Bryan and Kidd are all comparable to Malenko, Benoit and Jericho in terms of technical skill. The problem is the booking.

Austin even inadvertently admitted it. Back then, there was so much creative freedom: If you didn't like the script, you could improv it and hope for the best. Nowadays, if you go off script, it becomes headline news (Punk). WWE has no competition though, so they'll continue to program their stars because there is no desperation factor like when WCW was still around.

They're also right about the style of wrestling. Too many FCW recruits learning the same style of wrestling and putting on the same style of match. WWE could stand to hire some trainers with various backgrounds. I like the WWE style of wrestling, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't hurt to mix some Japanese/Lucha style in there for diversity's sake.

Stone Cold has some points but the WWE talent is getting better by the day. Find a couple more guys with the wrestling/selling in ring skills of Ziggler and then we are really talking. Guys like Barret, and Sandow, and Rhodes, and Del Rio really give me that old school feel. All new characters that in my opinion are almost on the same level as the undercarders from the late 80s early 90s. I'm not huge on the Cena, Rock, Shamus, Ryback 4some of faces but I am HUGE on CM Punk. I've just started watching again recently. I had been watching old school tapes and realized the WWE is still on, maybe I should give it another chance. My buddy ordered the Rumble and now I'm starting to get back into it. My least favorite stuff right now is Kane and Bryan's comedy act. I don't know why everyone is so big on Bryan. He just isn't smooth in the ring in my opinion and of course is just dreadful on the mic with Kane.

And it will be interesting to see if guys from Shield start getting solo pushes. Ambrose especially has the look of a monster heel. Something about him just looks evil

Oh and Team Rhodes Scholars is pretty cool. We need some more tag teams desperately.

I don't see Bryan on the same level as Malenko and the guys you listed. I gotta see Kidd though last time I saw him was a few years ago.

[Josh26]

Originally Posted by Moneyinc

Stone Cold has some points but the WWE talent is getting better by the day. Find a couple more guys with the wrestling/selling in ring skills of Ziggler and then we are really talking. Guys like Barret, and Sandow, and Rhodes, and Del Rio really give me that old school feel. All new characters that in my opinion are almost on the same level as the undercarders from the late 80s early 90s. I'm not huge on the Cena, Rock, Shamus, Ryback 4some of faces but I am HUGE on CM Punk. I've just started watching again recently. I had been watching old school tapes and realized the WWE is still on, maybe I should give it another chance. My buddy ordered the Rumble and now I'm starting to get back into it. My least favorite stuff right now is Kane and Bryan's comedy act. I don't know why everyone is so big on Bryan. He just isn't smooth in the ring in my opinion and of course is just dreadful on the mic with Kane.

And it will be interesting to see if guys from Shield start getting solo pushes. Ambrose especially has the look of a monster heel. Something about him just looks evil

Oh and Team Rhodes Scholars is pretty cool. We need some more tag teams desperately.

I don't see Bryan on the same level as Malenko and the guys you listed. I gotta see Kidd though last time I saw him was a few years ago.

If you have doubts about daniel bryan's wrestling skills i suggest you check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MlbBwzy67s WWE won't let daniel bryan show his true potential, or noone can work as good in the ring matching up to his skill level in WWE.

[AhSpicyDrop]

Originally Posted by Moneyinc

My least favorite stuff right now is Kane and Bryan's comedy act. I don't know why everyone is so big on Bryan. He just isn't smooth in the ring in my opinion and of course is just dreadful on the mic with Kane.

Daniel Bryan is dreadful on the mic? And not smooth in the ring? That's asinine to me but you're entitled to your opinion.

The Dazzler is usually involved in the best if not one of the best segments on every show he's on. He's looking more and more like the WWE's future brightest star every week. Everything they've given him since they started pushing him has been turned to gold. I've been bored of Kane since his World Heavyweight title run ended, and it's only because of D.B. and the whole Team Hell No moniker that I'm enjoying him again.

On my behalf it probably doesn't hurt that I was a big fan of Bryan Danielson before he ever even got a chance with WWE. His ring work was state of the art on the indy scene, and he made a lot of ROH shows worth watching during his title run there.

And it will be interesting to see if guys from Shield start getting solo pushes. Ambrose especially has the look of a monster heel. Something about him just looks evil

I hope the opposite happens because the major thing the WWE has been lacking for a long time is well thought-out stable play. The Shield doesn't need to go solo, they need to stay together and aligned with Heyman/Punk, and potentially Lesnar.

There's plenty of time down the road for all three guys to get their just dues with solo pushes, but right now they're extremely interesting as a trio. Their work already speaks for itself considering they threw down a 4.5 star match against Team Hell No & Ryback in a TLC match.

[DirtyD79]

You can't really blame the current crop of WWE wrestlers for "lacking prerogative in the ring and relying on instructions. Everything WWE does nowadays is formulaic. You have hollywood writers scripting their promos instead of letting the wrestlers come up with their own material and putting their own voice to it. Every indy wrestler who gets signed gets a new generic name and is sent down to FCW to learn to work "WWE style" instead of doing the stuff that made their name.

And look at Zack Ryder, the guy did all the legwork himself to get fans interested in him with his YouTube show and Twitter posts. How does he get rewarded for it? By getting to serve as a punching bag for Kane and being a cuckold for Eve. They finally put him on TV and they make him look like a putz.

If you're a female wrestler be content to either work one minute matches or serve as an armpiece. If you're lucky you'll get put into a love story angle with some creepy guy who is old enough to be your grandpa. Oh and no fat chicks.

[Big Nick Dudley]

Austin isn't blaming the talent, he's blaming the system. He's right.

Go out there and do exactly what we've rehearsed. Do your signature pose, get in the moves we've marketed and don't stray from the script.

You see this with today's most generic stars - Kofi, Dolph, Santino, Ryback (who I like), Sin Cara, and even Daniel Bryan (oddly enough, given how creative he can be). Telling a story is almost dead. These guys don't do it, because they don't think they need to.

"Calling a match" is no longer necessary. I think some guys still do it (Cena, Orton, Punk, etc), but those men are veterans. They trained in a different era.

I agree with Austin, and I'm not looking forward to the days when they take over as the top guys in the company. Not sure I'll be a big fan anymore.

[theBec2101]

Lack of options on the part everyone.
WWE- no competitions so they don’t really have nor need the option to change product. So they will remain in their ways till then.
Younger talent- The talent pool isn’t that deep so no one really has to try they just have to be good enough or better then that one guy. No one is hungry because there are not many options for them to choose one from another.
Us- we do not have much of an option now. We now have 4 wwe shows a week and 3 of them are the same. Then you have TNA they use to try. Now it’s not even fair TNA could try against Smack down, Main event, Saturday slam. But no.

[BTLion1990]

I see it in two main ways. The first being that like most people have stated, most have little to no freedom. And it is ironic. Daniel Bryan took it upon himself to use YES and now look? T-shirts, merchandise and a great tag-team and segments with a reinvented Kane. Zack Ryder has sold a TON of merchandise doing his own thing. Sure he isn't as popular nowadays, but he's made them money when he was looking to be future endeavored. Dare I say Cody's Moustache?

The point is that not everything will be a hit granted, but a lot of stars have their own ideas and input that should be incorporated from time to time. It's like Heath Ledger playing the Joker. He was told how to play the character, he put his own spin on it, and TOGETHER knocked it out of the park. I also really dislike the way people say ''Maximize your minutes etc'' when they're told what to say word for word and how to say it. How can you maximize your minutes really? Guys like Zack Ryder have done that and are still being overlooked. Tbh I don't see the all the hype and the US title is pretty much his limit, but why not keep him on TV, he was over at one point.

The second point is that a lot of the current roster have already achieved their goals and dreams.

Sheamus; Debuted in 2009, already 3 a time champion, King of the Ring winner, Royal Rumble winner.
ADR; Debuted in 2010, 3 time champion, MITB winner, RR winner.

Jack Swagger, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler all MITB winners, all former Champions wayyyy before their time with Swagger being the one who never should of held it.

My point is alot of these guys are been thrust into the spotlight way too soon. I know you could say that WWE need stars and in some instances it does work (See: Undertaker, Brock Lesnar) but more often than not it doesn't. Guys like HBK, Austin, Bret Hart, HHH all worked their way to the point they were deserving. Now they just give you the strap and once you've achieved that really what's left?

The night after WrestleMania, the first joke match was Santino, Ziggler and Swagger triple threat. 2/3 were former champions.

They need time and room in my opinion. Whether they get it is a different case.

[TWJC: The Beginning]

There are more styles exhibited now than there were in the Tude era.

I agree that guys should call it in the ring more and that some are rushed. But with the amount of bumping guys do, longevity isn't as great as it once was. Guys are/were killing each other in the ring.

[GrandSword]

Austin has been saying this for years. This is nothing new at all. He shouldn't be blaming the talent, but the restrictions put on them by Vince. Just like he barks orders into Cole's ear, he tells the workers what to do. Because the WWE is now the only big guy in town ( TNA is getting there) wrestlers who want to make real money out of the profession they love tow the line to ensure they keep their job.

Austin came from a different time, from the territories, honing his craft, gaining the confidence he needed to speak up against what creative threw at him. Then again, he was screwed around by WCW a lot, that it wasn't until he was fired from there did he start looking to take control of his character.

Until you get to a place where You make money for Vince, talent will have to tow his line, and even then you have to watch your step because it is always reported how bi-polar the man is.